Artists represented among the 34 new Timeline songs include newcomers Imagine Dragons, Icona Pop, Avicii, Haim, Pitbull, Florida Georgia Line, and Lorde, and old-timers Daft Punk, Prince, Pearl Jam, Boz Scaggs, Steve Earle, David Bowie, and Elvis Costello. A major theme in the 2013 Timeline is the emergence of EDM (electronic dance music) at the top of the mainstream pop charts.

The Timeline aims to represent the year for the sake of posterity, but my playlist is chosen and sequenced for my personal listening pleasure. It includes two tracks each from Arcade Fire's Reflektor, Boz Scaggs' Memphis, Steve Earle's The Low Highway, Daft Punk's Random Access Memories, and Elvis Costello And The Roots' Wise Up Ghost. These were the five albums I listened to most often last year.